the top totheclintonlevelsnow and let next year be a time for negotiating rates for the future and maybe everybody could lower the rates for everyone during that time. >> how much of this do you think is just public posturing and kind of bloviating on cable channels? it seems like a lot of that is going on. >> reporter: so much of that is public posturing and bloviating. but i think the difference between now and what we've seen in past high-stakes negotiations like this, you have the public posturing, the bloviating and the, okay, guys, let's roll up our sleeves and talk about what's really going on. by all accounts, that's not happening right now. the fact you said it's news the president and speaker had their first phone conversation which got nowhere in a week is really amazing and speaks to the lack of the real conversations going on behind the scenes. i will say that, you know, back to what david and jessica were saying, david particularly about the fact that -- the question about whether the white house and democrats in general are overreaching, look, when timothy geithn